Is there a restaurant in your town that you’ve passed by dozens, or shoot, hundreds of times, but never stopped by for a meal?

For me, in Ann Arbor, that restaurant is Amadeus. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked by, driven by, heck, even parked in the Fourth & Washington parking structure LITERALLY ACROSS THE STREET, and wondered about this place.

Finally we checked it out! We popped in for dinner one early Friday evening without a reservation. I’d recommend a reservation during popular times, however, as the place is not all that big, had started to fill by the end of our meal, and we were asked if we had a reservation in such a way that made me feel as though we should.

The interior is quirky, cozy, warm, and inviting. Walking into Amadeus feels like walking into a quaint little restaurant on a cobblestoned side street in Central Europe.

Since our dinner entrees came with bread and salad, and since we had grand plans for dessert, we didn’t feel a need to order an appetizer.

The bread was served warm, with a firm exterior and soft interior, in the cutest little basket, but why the little disposable butter packets?

I was a big fan of this perfect little fresh garden salad that accompanied my meal, served with an adorable mini carafe of salad dressing.

This is what the huz ordered and he was happy with it. I had of a bite of the stuffed cabbage roll and it was okay, but not as flavorful as I’d imagined it would be. The kielbasa was his favorite dish on the plate!

I love how pretty they’ve made this plate of food – so many colors make it so very appealing.

Being the cheese and carbs lover I am, I couldn’t resist ordering the mixed Pierogi Plate, with one of each of Amadeus’ six different varieties. My favorite, by far, was the mushroom pieróg, which had also been recommended by our server. It was incredibly rich and flavorful – highly recommended!

The two potato and cheese varieties were also very tasty (potato-American cheese and potato-farmer cheese). The sweet cheese flavor was in fact quite sweet, offering a nice departure from the rest of the savory pierogies on my plate, but I don’t think I would want to eat an entire plate of sweet cheese pierogies. The pork was also a favorite, while the sauerkraut pieróg was not my favorite.

Where Amadeus absolutely SHINES is in their dessert game. I had NO idea. And I am actually sad that I’ve been missing out on Amadeus’ dessert for all these years. Top. Notch.

Listed on Amadeus’ dessert menu on their website, but not on the paper menu in the restaurant, is the Polish Poppy Seed Cake. Luckily, we asked our server about it, and she happily informed us that they did in fact have some poppy seed cake made, despite its notable absence on the menu. Thank goodness!

Located in the upper right corner of the below picture, the Polish Poppy Seed Cake was incredible, with a thick, dark layer of apple poppy seed filling, chocolate drizzle, and a side of luscious vanilla custard cream. You won’t find anything like this anywhere else in Ann Arbor (that I know of!) and it is just so amazingly delicious. This was my favorite of the two desserts we ordered. Order this for an authentic Central European dessert experience.

Also, I should mention that we ordered two desserts and asked if they might be able to split them for us, between two different plates, and they very kindly obliged! My plate above features a half order of each of the two wonderful desserts were ordered, beautifully presented. This gives you an idea of the generous portions offered on the dessert menu.

And if you are a fan of chocolate fudge you might die (in the best way possible?) if you go to Amadeus and order the Turtle dessert. This DENSE, chocolate cake/fudge-hybrid is as rich as rich desserts get. The Turtle dessert is drizzled in caramel, contains walnuts, and is topped with a chocolate ganache glazing. RICH, FUDGY HEAVEN.

All in all, I think Amadeus is a lovely restaurant for a romantic date night dinner in an intimate setting, or perhaps a post-dinner glass of dessert wine and some sweets. I’m very glad we finally gave them a shot and will definitely be back! I’m been thinking about those desserts ever since our visit a couple weeks ago!